Enterprise Architecture principles
4. Security and compliance
- Last reviewed
- 8 June 2026
- Owner
- Head of Architecture
Prioritise security measures and regulatory compliance in architecture decisions.
Rationale
Good security practices protect data, maintain trust and avoids reputational damage, impact to customers and legal penalties.
Understanding threats, vulnerabilities and applying mitigations at the design stage reduces the cost of delivering secure services and prevents vulnerabilities risking DfE data and services.
Implications
Conduct threat modelling early in a service lifecycle and review, as threats and the service evolve.
Apply threat modelling to all components and flows in your service, from both external and internal threat actors, and apply appropriate mitigations.
Threat mitigations should be prioritised in backlogs to prevent exploitation of vulnerabilities.
A system is only as secure as its weakest link - all components, modules and flows should be protected regardless of the sensitivity of data held by that service.
Exploitation of weak points can provide a stepping stone into other services, platforms, and data - even if your service is considered lower risk, protections are required to prevent your system becoming a ‘back door’ into sensitive data elsewhere in the organisation.